Challenges and Impact of Sharing Economy: A Study of Uber and Airbnb

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Lee, Z. W., Chan, T. K., Balaji, M. S., & Chong, A. Y. L. (2018). Why people participate in the
sharing economy: an empirical investigation of Uber. Internet Research, 28(3), 829-850.
Retrieved from http://dro.dur.ac.uk/24152/1/24152.pdf
In this article, the authors examined the effects of inhibiting, motivating and technological
factors of the users participating in the sharing economy. The study used a self- reported online
survey among uber users in Hong Kong to determine its findings. From 295 users and use of
structural equation modeling technique, the research found out the perceived risks and benefits,
trust in the platform and platform qualities which supported user’s intention to use Uber. The
results from the study showed that the perceived benefits are the ones which have the strongest
influence on the user’s intention of participating in the sharing economy. It also found out that
the demographic variables that is age, gender and education level have no significant effects on
the user’s intention to participate in Uber.
Zervas, G., Proserpio, D., & Byers, J. W. (2017). The rise of the sharing economy: Estimating
the impact of Airbnb on the hotel industry. Journal of Marketing Research, 54(5), 687-705
retrieved from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?
doi=10.1.1.644.7793&rep=rep1&type=pdf
This article aims to look at the impact of the rise of the sharing economy especially in short term
rentals has on the hospitality industry by considering AirBnB. According to the study, the
penetration of AirBnB is negatively correlated to hotel revenues where the lower end hotels incur
the most financial impact. This article focused on the role of the shared economy on the
traditional forms of the economy and revealed that the sharing economy platforms were indeed
disruptive of the normal economy.

Summary
The sharing economy is a model which facilitates acquisition and provision or sharing access to
goods and services through the use of a community-based platform. One of the companies that
works with this business model is Uber where it involves one using the application to access taxi
drivers. Compared to the traditional taxi business model, it is more convenient to consumers and
allows transparency in terms of the pricing as well as location. Since it provides a new model of
an existing business, it provides some level of competition to the already existing traditional
taxis. There are challenges experienced by both the consumers and producers as a result of this
new disruptive technology. Some include security and privacy risks an some include price levels
which are uncompetitive. It would be useful to have an institution with oversight in the market to
facilitate sufficient levels of competition in the market to protect both the consumers and the
service providers.
Schneider, H. (2017). Creative Destruction and the Sharing Economy: Uber as Disruptive
Innovation. Edward Elgar Publishing. Retrieved from
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00712-017-0589-6
This article shows the role of disruptive technologies such as cab hailing apps on the economy. It
argues that in the respective industries, the market inefficiencies contributed to the
underutilization of the resources in those markets. The applications have since tried at effectively
connecting the users to the resources leading to more efficiency in the market. Further the apps
have reinforced the consumers ability to make choice over a particular product or service,
Additionally, the article points out the reduction of transaction costs as a result of the business